After the Storm
by Spaceman727
Summary: Set after the film, I've introduced a new character for this. This is my first story (hopefully many more to come), it has a slow start, but things pick up by chapter 3. Hope you enjoy it. Thanks!
1. Chapter 1

Dr Vera Gorski was having a paperwork fuelled nightmare. Sat at her desk skimming through the seemingly endless piles of paper she couldn't help but think that the attempted escape of Babydoll and her friends would have a lasting effect on the atmosphere around Lennox House. It seemed as though Babydoll had taken a part of many of the men who worked there, in some cases more literally than others. There was the chef, a repulsive man who still hadn't replaced his missing knife, one of the guards who's new lighter was a comparatively understated accessory, and of course, Blue Jones who had literally lost a chunk of flesh from his shoulder. The memory of that made Dr Gorski smile a little, at least until her mind wandered back to the fate that had befallen the poor Babydoll. Dr Gorski, however, was totally unaware of how much another man had lost after becoming involved in Babydoll's world.

Corporal Jack Tennison was a man who had the air of an officer of a much higher rank than his own, yet he had recently become very distant again. He was aware of his lack of interest in the world: losing everyone you care about could do that to a man like him. He had been in Vietnam for several years. He had seen and experienced horrific things, but as he sat in the car heading towards Lennox House it was not these things that bothered him. He had many regrets in his life, but none of them were related to his decisions and experiences in war. It was a grey day, but there was no rain. He never remembered Vermont like this. But he knew all too well that the past appears ever brighter whilst the present and future appear increasingly bleak. Jack was staring out of the window; he noticed that the ground was still wet from the rain that was no longer falling. He realised something had just happened, he turned around and the driver had stopped.

"We're here." The driver said, fed up, he must have been repeating himself.

Jack shook his head at his own foolishness, cracked a friendly smile at the driver, apologised and left the car. He looked at the sign by the entrance, made of cold, hard stone. It read: "Lennox House for the Mentally Insane, Brattleboro, Vermont". The corporal was wearing his military uniform, mainly because it was his way of merging the two separate lives he had lived up to now. He approached the large wooden doors of the entrance, not bothering to study the architecture of the place. He was greeted by Dr Gorski, an attractive woman to say the least, but she had weariness in her eyes that took something away from her appearance to him.

"Hello Mr Tennison, I believe we spoke on the phone?" She said in her thick accent, as she held her hand out to him and smiled. Jack took her hand and shook it firmly.

"Yes, we did." He smiled back.

"Such a shame, what happened to that poor little babydoll."

"Yeah, it is."

Dr Gorski felt a little guilty at this, but she noticed how his voice hardened at the mention of the girl.

"I won't pry any further. And although you can visit her, there will not be much left of however you knew her."

Jack just nodded. He was looking at a guard with a lighter. The guard had a look in his eye that Jack knew all too well. Jack took an instant dislike to the man and shot him a venomous look in return. As Jack and Dr Gorski entered the main section of the building, he looked at the cook who was running his thumb over the empty sheathe for a missing kitchen knife. Dr Gorski brought Jack into the room and left without saying another word.


	2. Chapter 2

He looked around the grey room, unable to set his eyes upon the girl in the chair opposite him. He sat down on the cold metal chair and looked directly into her beautiful green eyes. He looked around again, and saw himself somewhere else entirely. He was in a large black room, somehow illuminated, but he couldn't see any lights. She was collapsed on the floor weeping, head in her hands. He approached her slowly as he realised he was now in her imagination. It was completely silent aside from the sound of her desperate sobs. He placed his hand on her shoulder with a gentleness he thought was long gone. She turned to look at him, her eyes glistening from the tears that were no longer falling. She looked completely speechless, although Jack thought that he was the reason she had been crying. He wouldn't have blamed her, he thought to himself with bitterness. She got up and wrapped her arms around him. Jack closed his eyes and saw her sat in the grey room when he opened them again.

She wasn't there at all, a vacant half smile on her face. He swore he saw the corner of her mouth twitch slightly, but he knew the tricks that wishful thinking could play on one's senses. He brought himself to look at her properly now. Her blonde hair framed her almost angelic face was worn in two long pigtails and her fringe hugged the left side of her face, following the curve of her cheek. Her body was slight; she was both small and slender with the grace of a ballet dancer. She looked much younger than she was. If he didn't know better Jack would have assumed that she was just an innocent schoolgirl. But he knew she was both a lover and a fighter, and fierce in both. The memory of that brought a grin to his face, the likes of which hadn't played across his face since he spent that very night with her. Well, that and the nights he had spent with his squad in Vietnam during his time off: when the lot of them would go out, get terribly drunk and flirt with every girl within a 5 mile radius of the bar they had just been in. He took himself back into the present, the grey room, beginning to notice the remains of faded paint, noticing that the walls were once blue.

He looked into her eyes again…

Babydoll could have sworn she'd seen him, if only for a split second. She can't have been imagining it could she? He was there, and suddenly he was gone again. She wanted to cry again, but she couldn't. She'd cried enough over him.

Jack found himself back in the black room. He decided that wherever he was, he wanted to stay there. If she was still there to any degree in this place, it would be worth staying. He noticed that she was looking at him, almost studiously. She was the first to speak.

"It's really you? I'm not making this up, am I?"

"Yeah, Babydoll. It's me."

"That's what you called me, wasn't it? When we were together?"

"Yeah."

"It's ok. I'm not leaving again. I'm never going to do that to you. Not again." He said, his deep and usually hard voice lost its edge and became soothing. She felt her pain ease as he said this.

"We have some demons to face, don't we?" came a different voice, one familiar to both Jack and Babydoll. He removed his arms from around her and his jaw dropped when he saw who it was.

"Surprised?" the Wise Man asked with a grin. Jack looked at Babydoll, speechless.

"Cat got your tongue? You always were the quiet one." the Wise Man said, a nostalgia in his voice.

"I… I watched you die. You saved me. You sacrificed your own life on the battlefield for me. I took orders from you. How?"

Jack was stumbling over the thoughts whirling around his head like small tornados.

Now Babydoll was looking for answers.

"Who is this man? He's been my guardian angel this whole time." She asked.

"He was my CO during my first year of the war. I was throwing a grenade, but it was a dud. The fuse was shorter than it should have been. The second I pulled the pin he somehow knew. He snatched it right out of my hands and jumped over the top of it, taking the whole blast." Jack recalled. Jack turned to the Wise Man now.

"You died for me. I was just a private. No family left and I'd pushed away the only woman who'd ever loved me. What made you think I was worth that kind of sacrifice?" Jack asked him.

"That's something that will come to light in due time." the Wise Man said, with a knowing smile.

"Well, what made you help me?" Babydoll asked the Wise Man.

"I'd died for him and I knew he had only one person he cared about anymore. You. I decided to help you because I knew you were a soldier at heart too." the Wise Man said.

"How did you know?" Jack asked.

"You may have never mentioned her, but I saw that photograph you were always looking at. I knew something must have happened between the two of you." the Wise Man explained.


	3. Chapter 3

Jack pulled the photo from his shirt pocket and unfolded it. In it was a beautiful young woman with skin like porcelain, long dark brown hair and a fragile demeanour, with eyes of a green so deep and striking that emeralds would have been put to shame. Babydoll took it from his hand, her fingers brushing against his. She was stunned.

"Why do you still have this?" Babydoll asked him.

"It may have ended badly, but it didn't change anything about how I felt." Jack replied.

Babydoll looked at him and he saw the look in her eye he'd been longing to see for years.

A new voice cleared its throat loudly. A female. Babydoll turned around and saw a pretty young woman with cropped blonde-brown hair, grinning.

"Rocket!" Babydoll exclaimed, ecstatically while running to hug her.

Rocket continued grinning. Jack couldn't help but like her sunny smile and the air of happiness around her. Jack's eyes then fell to a wound in her stomach, slightly to the left.

"I thought you were dead!" Babydoll said, laughing.

"I am." Rocket replied, her grin softening to a smile. The laughter stopped.

"The imagination is a powerful thing." Rocket said in her soft voice.

"Where's my hug?" yet another voice asked. This voice belonged to a beautiful, Asian woman who had a bandage around her head at about temple height, a red dot of blood coming from her forehead and a friendly smile. Jack knew it was an exit wound.

"Amber! Blondie!" Babydoll exclaimed again.

Jack then noticed the other girl with black hair, a harsh face and a bandage covering a bullet wound somewhere around her chest. Babydoll ran to hug the Asian woman, Amber and then also hugged Blondie.

"Where's Sweet Pea?" Babydoll asked, unable to hide her grin.

"She's free. She doesn't need to fight anymore. You saved her." Rocket said, gently.

"Which means we have one more fight…" the Wise Man said. Everyone nodded.

"Babydoll, once you're free. We're all free. You have to revisit the battles you have already fought and retrieve a golden thread. It is your decision what to do with them. If you cut them, you will be in paradise. No pain. No memories of everything that has ever happened to you. If you put them together, you will be back into the real world until you die." the Wise Man said.

"Oh, and one more thing… Give those bastards hell." The Wise Man added, smiling.

Jack and the girls were suddenly ready. Babydoll in her almost naval outfit, pistol and sword at the ready. Rocket in an outfit which looked like that of a field medic, fiddling with her flintlock pistol. Amber was fitting her small black pistol together, her uniform reminiscent of a pilot. Blondie, wearing her leather suit and goggles looked down the sights of her large assault rifle and clicked the safety off. Jack was now wearing his combat fatigues, an M16 slung across his shoulder and his favourite bolt action sniper rifle in his hands. He dropped the rifle slightly and put his hand to his hips, where he found a sleek black revolver. He smiled.

"Not bad…" He said with a laugh.

Jack was shook by the explosion of a biplane as Blondie shot it down with her rifle, riddling it with holes. The helicopter dropped. Amber landed the helicopter on the dirt of no-man's land. Babydoll, Rocket and Jack jumped out of the helicopter.

"Blondie! Take the 50 cal!" Amber shouted as they took off again. Blondie sprinted to the gun mounted on the side of the helicopter. The rest of the group could hear nothing as Blondie shot down biplanes in a seemingly endless hail of bullets. Jack pulled his sniper rifle out and looked upwards, tracking a biplane behind the helicopter. He pushed his aim ahead of the plane and further upwards. He squeezed the trigger and the pilot died, a burst of steam coming out of the side of its head. It dropped and exploded, rattling the helicopter.

"Shit!" Amber screamed down her microphone. She heard the sound of Jack laughing and couldn't help but grin. Undead German soldiers had surrounded the group. Babydoll took at them with a speed and grace matched by very few fighters Jack had ever seen. She sliced across the throat of one and continued the swing in a slight downwards arc, splitting another enemy almost in two. She whirled around with a kick to one behind her, pulled her pistol and fired a bullet into its forehead as it hit the ground. Rocket had pulled out her small knife and was lacerating the various undead soldiers surrounding her with fast and shallow but frequent slices. Jack was tackled to the floor by an undead man built like a tank. Jack was a strong, muscular man but he stood no chance against this abomination in hand-to-hand combat and they both knew it. Jack brought his fist up to its chin, knocking it off of him as it grabbed for its pistol. Jack pulled his revolver out and fired 2 shots rapidly into it. It fell, but he didn't trust it. Jack holstered his revolver and grabbed for his M16. The undead creature was getting to its feet. Jack smashed the butt of his rifle against the side of the thing's head, felling it again. He jabbed his bayonet into the monster's back several times. It let out puffs of steam and he was satisfied that it would stay dead this time. He whirled round and fired a burst of bullets into the creature behind him, ejecting steam so much it completely obscured Jack's vision. He put his M16 away and pulled his sniper rifle again. As the steam cleared he found a group of enemies 8 strong which had weapons trained on Babydoll and Rocket, who were pressed against the side of the trench. Jack knew his rifle only contained 7 rounds at a time. One of which he had already used. The creatures were unaware of him. He rapidly fired his shots, missing once, pulling the bolt back each time. He threw the rifle to the floor, pulled his revolver and advanced. One of the soldiers not wearing a helmet showed a genuine fear of the look of pure anger and hatred across Jack's face. He fired the revolver, dropping one of the soldiers. He stepped forward again, fired at another one who had grabbed Rocket and put its weapon to her head. He hit it in the elbow. It dropped its weapon and Rocket laid into it with a flurry of punches. She grabbed its arm and twisted, throwing it to the floor. Rocket then placed her flintlock pistol to its head and fired. The remaining creature ran. Babydoll couldn't shoot at it from her distance. A tomahawk lodged itself in the soldier's face. Blondie pulled it out of the creature as Amber left the cockpit of the helicopter, which had landed close to the trench. Amber pulled her pistol and fired shots at the soldiers in the way of her and the rest of the group, dispatching the lot of them. Jack picked up his rifle and reloaded every one of his weapons while he had the chance. The girls saw him do this and did the same. They advanced on a bunker in the trench, but the ground began to shake. Jack, who wasn't in the trench yet, saw the ground a few hundred metres away begin to literally collapse into blackness.

"Run!" He shouted.

He and the girls ran towards the bunker. Jack pulled out his M16, ready to fire at any number of enemies. When they reached the bunker, Blondie kicked the door in and the group unleashed a hail of bullets, steam filling the room. An officer was in the next room, ceremonial knife on his belt and a pistol ready to fire at any intruder. He motioned at his guards to file through to the next room and fan out to eliminate the threat. They all entered the room and were greeted by another hail of bullets. Many were slaughtered immediately. Amidst the chaos after Jack and the girls had run out of bullets, the creatures approached. The officer looked at the golden thread on his desk, knowing nothing of its importance. Babydoll slipped past the mass of enemy soldiers, only to be grabbed by the officer. The officer put his knife against her throat, put his repulsive face close to hers and said "If you're a good girl, I'll let you live." Jack fired his revolver at another enemy, the bullet hit it in the neck. He ran through the gap created by the death of the soldier and entered the next room. Jack shot the officer in the knee, making him loosen his grip on Babydoll long enough for her to twirl away from him and slash across his chest with her sword. She spat in his face and shot him with her pistol, hitting him right between the eyes. She grabbed the golden thread from the table and suddenly they were back in the black room.


	4. Chapter 4

Jack looked around the room slowly again, but it was no longer black and bare, it had taken the appearance of a dressing room. The walls were covered in a faded pink paint with posters from at least a decade ago. There were costumes on racks and mirrors surrounded by bright lights. It had an air of perversion about it and Jack could guess what went on after the girls would get ready for whatever shows, if you could call them that, happened here. There was a row of dressers below the mirrors. He approached the one on the far left and pulled out a drawer. He saw a knife, a lighter and a map taped to it. The mirror above this particular dresser had been smashed and there were three different pools of blood around the room. His eyes then fell to a pistol on the floor. He didn't know the significance of the room or what he'd found in it, but he knew there was something important he was missing that the girls seemed to know.

Babydoll was celebrating with her friends; they were all cheering and hugging each other. One of the girls had found a bottle of champagne and they were pouring it into glasses. Jack knew he'd never fit in with the girls, but he felt genuinely isolated. For the first time, it wasn't voluntary. Jack no longer carried his weapons even though he was still in his combat fatigues. He searched the room and found them on a table on the other side of the room. He sat on one of the chairs and looked at his weapons. He took the M16, stripped it down, cleaned it and re-assembled it quickly. He repeated this process with the other weapons and set them back on the table.

"Looks like murder's become second nature." he thought to himself with a bitter laugh. He looked around the room again. He felt a hand on his shoulder; he knew the delicate touch could only have come from one person. Babydoll was still grinning, holding two glasses of champagne. He took it with a polite smile, but they both knew that it was without any sentiment. She kissed his cheek, trying to be friendly, but she lingered for a little too long for it to not have a little more meaning behind it. He put his glass to hers and downed it. Babydoll laughed.

"You look like you could use another." She said

"Yeah, I could." Jack replied, laughing too.

He got up and walked to the other side of the room.

"What is this place?" He asked.

"I don't really know. It was a club. A man called Blue ran it; he sold guns, drugs and women here. We all had a dance routine. If a client liked our routine, they slipped Blue a couple of notes to let them have their way with us. This was the dressing room. Blue shot Amber and Blondie in here. He then tried to rape me, I stabbed him and escaped. Sweet Pea and I got to the gate. I sacrificed myself so she could go. There was no other way." She said, choking on the words as the memories came back to her.

"What happened to Rocket then?"

"The chef stabbed her. We were trying to steal his knife. He tried to go for Sweet Pea and Rocket threw herself in the way."

Jack shook his head and sighed.

"I… I don't know what to say. I mean..." A look of frustration came across his face at his own speechlessness.

"Don't. Just don't say anything then." Babydoll said. She sounded quite angry now.

Jack and Babydoll approached the other girls.

"We've still got a way to go." Jack said. The others nodded.

"Ready?" Babydoll asked.

The only answer she received was in the sound of guns being loaded.


	5. Chapter 5

The group found themselves near a large tower that was crumbling, ready to topple. Jack just watched it fall, much slower than he would have expected it to. Large chunks of rubble crushed various humans and orcs scattered around the area. He shook himself into action as the sound of the collapsed tower rang out across the castle and the surrounding areas. He saw that the girls were already running towards the courtyard of the castle. He placed the bayonet on his M16 and sprinted to catch up, stabbing orcs and knights alike. He didn't care. He'd kill anything that was getting in the way of him and keeping his squad safe and his enemies saw the fire and determination in his eyes. A few stepped aside, hoping he wouldn't bother with them. He had other ideas however, firing short sharp bursts into anything that wasn't directly in the way. As he approached the courtyard needing to reload, he saw the infinite mass of enemies converging on the girls. He gritted his teeth; there was no way he was getting through to his group. He kept his distance from the enemies and thought about what he should do. At that moment, his thought was cut short by an orc blade slicing through the surface of his arm. He hit the creature behind him with his rifle. The thing stumbled slightly, but with its armour protecting it Jack realised he couldn't do anything in close combat. Jack threw an almighty punch at the thing's chestplate, hoping to minimise damage to his hand. As the creature staggered Jack grabbed it and pushed it towards a gigantic skeleton of what appeared to be a dragon. The thing swung its arm towards him. Jack ducked it easily and threw another punch, colliding with the spiked helmet of the creature. The orc was disoriented, but Jack's hand was split open. His right arm was now covered in blood. He threw the orc at the dragon's skeleton and impaled it in the sharp bones of its ribcage.

Babydoll, Rocket, Amber and Blondie had just entered the castle, followed by a huge group of enemies. Babydoll's instincts told her to go upwards this time. She holstered her pistol and climbed the staircase, slaughtering the orcs guarding the castle with her speed and finesse. Her sword had almost become an extension of her arms now and with her rage at being cut off from the man who would do anything to protect her, she was completely unstoppable. Yelling and screaming as she murdered the stupid, helpless drones in her way, the staircase and walls were covered in dark green blood from the orcs. The other girls were shooting at the stream of enemies flowing up the staircase. No sooner than they had killed every single one of the creatures that had entered the castle, another army of them blocked their exit. They got to the very top of the castle and saw a huge troll with a club that was bigger than any two of the girls put together. It roared and shook the entire castle. Another tower crumbled and fell from the sheer force of the troll's voice.

Jack, who was following the almost endless sea of enemies and attempting to kill as many as possible was also making his way up to the top of the castle saw the area around the castle begin to collapse and disintegrate into nothingness, just as he had in the trenches. Amber and Blondie kept thinning out the huge wave of enemies as Babydoll and Rocket took to the troll. Amber thought she saw a glimpse of a familiar face. She frantically tried to pump even more bullets into the crowd. Amber reloaded yet again and Blondie mowed the enemies down with a spray of bullets from her heavy assault rifle. Jack felt a searing pain as a bullet tore into his side. He yelled and Blondie dropped her weapon in shock. Amber sprinted down the staircase to where Jack was and supported him as he hobbled up the staircase, bleeding. Babydoll sidestepped a frantic swipe from a very enraged troll and slashed her sword across the rocky skin of its shoulder, drawing a small trickle of black blood. Rocket shot at it, but the bullets ricocheted off its skin and made part of the weak stone of the castle crumble. Rocket pulled her knife out and Babydoll slashed at the troll again, cutting across its back. Rocket ducked under a punch from the troll's free arm as the other waved its club rather pathetically in Babydoll's general direction.

Amber ripped Jack's shirt off and used it to stem the bleeding from his arm which was far worse now. The bullet was just a graze by comparison. As she kept pressure on the cuts and the blood soaked through the shirt, she noticed the lacerations all over Jack's body. He had scars from various different things covering his body like a tattoo. He was covered in cuts from what looked like bladed weapons, knives or machetes, jagged tears in his skin from bayonet stabs and whip marks covering almost every inch of his body. She then noticed the circular scar on his left wrist, definitely a bullet wound. She also saw burns all over his left arm and some on various other sensitive parts of the body. The shirt was now so soaked in blood it was making no difference. She threw it away. She told Blondie, who was still staring, speechless at what she'd done and the sight of what else Jack had endured to fetch Rocket. Blondie ran up to the top of the castle and saw the large troll beating her friends. She pulled her tomahawk and screeched at the thing. The troll looked up at her briefly and went back to trying to hold off Rocket and Babydoll with a snort, as if it thought her attempt at intimidation was pathetic. Rocket knew her knife was too small and weak to damage the thick skin of the troll, but as she slashed it repeatedly, the troll left Babydoll alone. Blondie hit the troll with her tomahawk and it buried itself in the thing's back. She pulled it out and Babydoll slashed it again. Blondie climbed up the troll, which thrashed wildly and she buried her tomahawk in its forehead, killing it. Behind the dead troll was a gold thread on a small table that had conveniently not been damaged during the fight. Babydoll saw the castle courtyard collapsing into the dark abyss below. She grabbed the thread and their surroundings changed to the dressing room again.


	6. Chapter 6

Babydoll heard Jack's pained breathing as he continued to bleed on the floor. She shouted for Rocket, who set to his wounds immediately. Rocket bandaged him quickly, the white dressings turning red almost instantly. Jack stopped grunting and breathing as heavily, holding the pain back with all his strength. He'd suffered worse without even making a sound. Babydoll had wet trails of tears down her face, though she was no longer sobbing. Jack watched as she composed herself and smiled. He got up and held her close, running his fingers through her hair. Babydoll noticed how his chest was still heaving as he held it back. She was frustrated at this.

"Why are you doing this?" She asked.

"Doing what?" He replied, confused.

"You're holding back, you're pushing me away and you're isolating yourself from the rest of us." She said.

He sat down again, exhausted from the effort of pulling himself up and put his head in his hands with a sigh.

"Not a moment passed in Vietnam that I didn't regret every bit of what happened, I never wanted to leave you, but I did. My torture over there was more than just physical." He said. Babydoll could hear the sheer regret in his voice. She didn't know what to say.

"I did it for you. I left to fight so that we could have a future where I wasn't torn from you without choice, where you could be happy, with me or without me. If I knew for a second that this would happen to you, I never would have gone... I'm pushing you away because there's nothing of you left. Not in the real world. If you get these threads, you'll have to choose between reality and paradise, and I want you to live in paradise. Because I know you'll be truly happy there. You've had a lifetime's worth of pain." He explained.

"I've had a lifetime's worth of pain? Just look at yourself! I loved you, and you left me so you could go to war. I accepted that. You want me to go away so you can play the victim! It's pathetic! You want to subject yourself to pain to act strong when you're not. No one's that strong. I'm going to decide what I do with my future! Not you!" She shouted.

Jack walked out of the room into a corridor with faded grey-blue walls. Across the empty corridor he saw a room full of beds. He entered the room and threw a table full of china cups and small trinkets to the floor, smashing them. The table broke against the floor and he sat down on the first bed he saw. He reached into the pocket of his trousers and pulled out the picture of Babydoll. He looked at it the same way he always had, looking at her smiling face in the photo. He remembered the day he took her to get it taken. They'd been on their third date. He took her to the cinema to watch a movie. He didn't remember which. As they were leaving the cinema, he saw a photographer's shop further down the street. He took her inside spoke to the photographer. The kind young man with the camera insisted on taking photos of them. Jack didn't remember much else that happened that day. He remembered her long dark hair, a reminder of what he'd left behind and that whether he ended up with or without Babydoll in the future, she was no longer his Babydoll. Not the one he remembered. Not the one he loved. He then remembered the first time he met Babydoll. It was a friend's birthday party. She had been sat in the branches of a tree in the garden while everyone else was inside, other than her and Jack.

"Hi there." He had said with a friendly smile.

"Hey." She replied, not paying much attention to him. She took a bite out of an apple she had picked.

"I'm Jack." He said, trying to be patient.

"You don't need my name. You'll never see me again." She'd replied, callously.

"Well, I'm going back inside. Are you going to be joining us?" He asked.

"No."

"Bye then."

"Yeah."

The memory of their first conversation brought a smile to his face. He remembered when he next saw her, a Halloween party. His friends had insisted on costumes and Jack came in a knight costume. Jack went to meet his friends at the local bar and got very drunk, very quickly. He approached the mysterious girl, not recognising her from the last time they'd met. Before he could say anything she rolled her eyes at him and said

"Let me guess… you can be my knight in shining armour?" Sarcasm dripping from her voice.

"Damn. Hadn't thought of that one." He'd said.

She laughed.

"Heard them all." She said.

"I'll bet you have." He slurred a little.

"Actually, that one's never come up." She giggled.

"See? I'm pretty original, right?"

She shook her head, smiling

"I'll admit that when I see it"

"Well, that's all I've got actually. I'll leave you in peace then" And he'd stumbled away.

His memory of the rest of that night was hazy, but Jack could remember somehow arranging a date with this girl. His memory drifted back to her beautiful smiles. He then remembered the look on her face when he told her he was leaving for the army…

Babydoll walked up to Jack, placed her hand on his shoulder and kissed his neck. Jack was a little startled by being brought away from the past so suddenly.

"I'm sorry. I know you only wanted me to be happy." She said. Kissing him again.

"It's fine. As much as I hate it, I can't protect you from everything. Even if I want to." He lay back on the bed and Babydoll followed. He took her in his arms.

"Sing me to sleep, like you used to." She said, smiling.

"I can't. I don't remember the words." He said, frowning.

He began to hum the soothing melody of the lullaby he had written many years ago, and Babydoll fell asleep almost instantly. Jack fell into a deep sleep shortly after.

Jack woke up the next day to see that the club was still deserted besides him and the girls. Babydoll was still fast asleep in his arms. He smiled and laid back so he didn't disturb her. He looked at the ceiling and tried to remember the last time he felt this happy without Babydoll. He couldn't think of anything. He heard her yawn and shift in his arms. He knew she'd woken up, so he gently ran his fingers down her arm and kissed her cheek. He saw her smile, her eyes still closed. He got up and tried not to disturb her at all. She groaned as he got up and out of the bed.

"Stay here." She mumbled. Jack looked back at her, curled up in the bed and decided he didn't have anywhere better to be. He got back into the bed and Babydoll moved so she was laying on top of him. She pressed her soft lips to his and smiled.

"I've missed this so much." She said, her voice gentle and calm as it always was when she was happy.

"What do you miss?" He asked.

"This. You." She replied.

"Me too." He said, mirroring her contented smile.

"I'd almost forgotten how it felt to be with you." He said, his eyes reflecting sorrow and guilt.

"This is paradise. I don't need anything more to be happy." She said.

"We need to talk about what you're going to do when we get the last thread."

Babydoll didn't say anything.

"You're my Babydoll and I never want to hurt you, but I already have so deeply and I'm afraid I might do it again. You don't deserve that. And as simple as it all seems here, the real world is far more complex. I don't want to be the thing that makes you turn down a guarantee of happiness for a world of sorrow, suffering and inhumanity. I don't want you to leave, but I want you to be happy above anything else." He said. She kissed him, trying to comfort him and ease his guilt.

"We can face whatever's in the real world together, just the two of us. That's all that matters." Babydoll said.

"I don't know. I lost you and the girls during that last fight. You took a beating from that troll. I don't care how bad my wounds were. I would have got up and fought that thing with my bare hands if I had to. I should have done." He said, clutching at his arm and breathing sharply.

"You can't carry the weight of the world, Jack. I can fight my own battles."

"Of course you can, you're my Babydoll. You can do anything. I just don't want you to."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm supposed to protect you. I failed once and I can never make up for that."

"You need to give yourself a break. You're not a superhero, you're a human being. And I'll love you no matter how flawed you are, no matter how many mistakes you make. You're my knight in shining armour." Babydoll smiled.

"My armour's definitely not shining." Jack said with a small laugh.

"Let's get ready. We need to get the last thread. Then we'll talk about what to do." She said.

Jack and Babydoll walked across the corridor to the dressing room and saw that the girls were already there.

"Let's go." Rocket said.


	7. Chapter 7

The group found themselves on a rocky outcrop by a train track. Jack looked up at the unusually orange sky and saw a large moon, closer than usual. He saw that the tracks were held up by some sort of small engines spewing jets of blue flame. Jack jumped onto the tracks first and checked his surroundings. He saw that the surface of the planet was covered in red rocks and dust. He saw a large clump of chrome on the horizon. The group walked down the tracks in silence for a very long time before they approached what Jack now realised was a futuristic city. But there was a semi-circular area of the city that had been blasted away completely and most of the buildings were collapsed, torn apart or on fire. Jack watched the orange glow of the fires against the cold chrome structures, hypnotised by the apocalyptic beauty of the remains of the city. The group entered the city slowly.

They saw the real aftermath of what had happened now, discarded bodies of faceless robots were dumped all over the streets. They saw a single robot hauling the remains of another android, it had been thrown over its shoulder. The robot placed the twisted and deformed shell of its associate on the street with a strange gentleness. It was then that it noticed Jack and the girls. The robot stared at them with its featureless face, if you could call it that, and ran. Jack's hand instinctively fell to his revolver. He pulled it out of the holster slowly. Babydoll had already drawn her pistol and was holding her sword by her side. The other girls saw Jack raise his weapon and drew their own guns. Jack saw a group of robots in the distance, they looked like some kind of law enforcement. The androids approached slowly until Jack was face to featureless head-shaped shell with what appeared to be the most senior of the androids. The thing tried to vocalise, making a strange string of static, whirring sounds and not quite human murmurs. It cocked its head afterwards, as if it had been asking a question.

Jack dropped his weapon and put his hands up, trying to show that he was friendly. The android emitted something that sounded like an artificial laugh and drew its large, metallic pistol. Jack kicked the android and scrabbled for his revolver. The other robots unleashed hails of bullets from their sleek, metallic SMGs and the girls fired back. The robots severely outnumbered Jack and the girls, and both sides knew it. Jack's new adversary stamped on his hand as he reached for his revolver. Babydoll charged at the mass of metal, firing her pistol. Rocket fired short, sharp bursts of bullets from her own SMG, grimacing as she noticed how useless it was. Amber yelled as an android threw its fist, which collided with the side of her head and knocked her to the floor. Jack grabbed at the robot's leg, tripping it over and picked up his weapon. He shot at the android which had raised its pistol to Amber's head, destroying it. He spun around to face the officer, to see that it was gone. A large mass of metal collided with his head, and he fell to his hands and knees. Blondie sprayed bullets into the large group of robots, covering Babydoll's rush at the enemy, and possibly killing a few. Rocket reached for her flintlock pistol, having run out of ammunition for her SMG completely and fired at the officer. Her shot missed, but distracted the android for long enough to allow Jack to grab it in a headlock. The officer flailed and spun, trying to loosen Jack's grip, but he held on tightly. Blondie threw her tomahawk to Rocket who used it to slice into the pipe holding the officer's head onto its body, almost slashing Jack's shoulder. Jack breathed with a relief and laughed a little at Rocket's wild slash.

"You need to work on your accuracy." He said to her, with a cheeky smile. Rocket laughed and clipped the back of his head with a gentle slap. Jack let the no longer functioning shell of the officer android crumple now. He pulled his M16 out and fastened the bayonet to it. He charged into the remains of the robot army, firing in short 3 round bursts. He ducked underneath the arm of a robot attempting to punch him and stabbed the bayonet through the back of its head. He twisted the bayonet out of the fallen robot's head, slicing the side of its head open and spilling gears and wires onto the street.

There weren't many androids left now, they were falling back to a large military complex. Jack assumed there wouldn't be many reinforcements to call upon any more, as most of the complex was on fire, with burnt and twisted metal falling to the ground like liquid. Jack fired what was left of his magazine into the retreating robots and reloaded. He picked up his speed, taking off at a sprint towards the complex. The robots shut the door of the entrance and Babydoll kicked it open before Jack and Rocket reached it. Babydoll was very determined now. Firing pistol shots with an aggressiveness Jack had never seen in her. Amber and Blondie stayed by the entrance.

"We'll cover the exit." Blondie said.

Babydoll nodded and waited for Jack and Rocket to ready themselves before entering the only other room left in the complex. Rocket pushed the door open slowly and Jack snapped the sights of his rifle to his eyes and fired at some of the robots before throwing a table over and taking cover behind it. Babydoll threw her sword at an android attempting to escape the sealed room it had locked itself in. The sword sliced across the robot, and it fell to the floor before it could get away. Rocket was firing her flintlock pistol at a robot behind a metal desk. But she was finding it hard to supress it when the pistol fired so slowly and needed to be reloaded so frequently. Jack turned to aid Rocket in supressing the robot, firing short bursts whenever Rocket reloaded. Babydoll ran for her sword, which was on the other side of the room, firing her pistol at the other three robots. She grabbed her sword and ran towards the robots, shooting as she approached. She then spun around and kicked one in its head, as she spun, she ran her sword through the next robot, shot the third and stopped. Blondie shot at a robot that had lost its lower half and one of its arms, crawling frantically towards its pistol, she saw that no more androids were coming for them, so she left Amber at the door to help the others. Babydoll started supressing the last robot too, as Jack tried to flank it. Blondie saw one of the robots rise to its feet. She sprayed bullets at it, eviscerating its shell completely. Jack stabbed the last one with his bayonet, dropped it and fired at its head. He then pulled one of the large drawers of the desk out and searched for the thread, finding it under a pile of papers and weapons. He handed it to Babydoll and they were in a black room again. Only it was different this time.


	8. Chapter 8

Jack and Babydoll were now the only ones in the room. Or so they thought, until they heard the voice of the Wise Man.

"You two have one last battle, but the others are free." He said.

"What happened to them?" Babydoll asked.

"They're dead, like they always were." He explained.

"But… They were so real…" She said, stunned.

"The imagination is a powerful thing." He said with a smile.

"So, what do we need to do now?" Babydoll asked.

"Whatever you want to do with those threads you must first fight your demons." He said, cryptically.

"Ok." Babydoll said, nodding.

The Wise Man began to crumble away into flakes of dust.

"And one more thing… I mean literally fight your demons!" He shouted.

With those last words, the Wise Man faded away.

Babydoll closed her eyes and two small pillars rose out of the ground. Jack looked surprised, but his instincts were telling him what he needed to do. He closed his eyes, focused all of his strength, and on the pillar to the right, he saw a memory of his. He was laying face down in a pile of dead bodies of fellow soldiers; some of his friends were in there, motionless and covered in blood and dirt. He heard voices speaking in Vietnamese and lay as still as he could. He heard them shouting now and the sound of large dogs barking viciously. The dogs set upon the pile of bodies, sniffing. Jack darted his eyes upwards to see a snout pointing right at him. The dog barked and the Vietcong dragged him out of the pile. Jack fell to the floor when they let him go, hoping he could keep up the ruse, but it didn't work. He felt rifles press against him and he stood up, hands on his head as they stripped him of his weapons. The memory faded.

Jack heard a growl and saw a pair of glowing red eyes. He pulled his M16 out and readied his bayonet. The dog moved into the light. It looked far more evil and vicious than the already intimidating ones he had seen in Vietnam, its fur matted with blood and dirt. It was larger than he remembered; it bared its crooked and sharp yellow teeth as it gave a guttural growl. He saw the red eyes of more dogs appear in the darkness. The other dogs approached. There were five dogs now, in a v-formation. The dog at the front snarled, and the others growled threateningly. The first one pounced at Jack, who held his left arm up. The hellhound sunk its teeth into the flesh of his arm, giving Jack the opportunity to throw the dog away and shoot it before it recovered. Fighting through the pain, Jack gritted his teeth and readied himself for another attack. Two dogs sprinted for him and jumped at him, slashing their claws at him wildly, failing to draw blood. Jack kicked one in the jaw and shot at it, the bullets only grazed the beast's hide, making it bleed a little. Jack put his rifle away, holding his bayonet as a knife, detached from the gun. He dodged most of the creatures' attacks, getting scratched across his side and back a few times. He slashed his bayonet in fast, sharp motions. As one of the demon dogs jumped at him, he stabbed the bayonet through its jaw. It fell limp and he pushed it off, picking himself up before the other two ran for him. All three remaining dogs pounced him at once, pinning him to the floor. One went for his neck; he held the pain back as the other two chewed on his legs, grabbing its throat and with all the strength he could bring, he snapped its neck. It fell to his side and he kicked legs to get the dogs that were tearing into the muscle of his legs to pay him attention as a legitimate threat. He threw a punch at one that leaped for his chest, pulled himself up again and slit the beast's throat. The last one growled fiercely and Jack grabbed his revolver, firing all six bullets as quickly as he could, hitting it twice. It whimpered as it fell to the cold, hard ground bleeding to death.

Babydoll looked at her pillar now, as Jack realised the room had some kind of invisible barrier separating the room to prevent them fighting together. Babydoll saw the repulsive chef from the asylum sinking his teeth into a foul smelling sandwich, his perverted grin as she held the knife to his throat, and the fierce look in his eye as he stabbed Rocket. She saw a hybrid of boar and man before her, with large tusks and a meat cleaver in its large hands. As it stood upright, it wiped its cleaver on its bloodstained apron. It roared and charged at her, it was slow and clumsy though, and Babydoll sidestepped the charge and twirled, slashing her sword across the creature's back. The wound didn't even bleed. The large beast became nothing but enraged at this, charging her again suddenly. Babydoll was too close to dodge this time and it knocked her to the floor. It was on top of her, squealing as she knocked its arms away from her. She reached for her pistol and fired as quickly as she could, missing. Jack pressed himself against the barrier, hitting it as hard as he could to try and break it down. His efforts were in vain. The beast was so close to Babydoll's face, she could smell the stench of its foul breath. It raised its cleaver and broke its hold on Babydoll, who rolled away from the swing of the cleaver; it skimmed across her leg and left a fracture in the floor. Babydoll shot at it again, hitting its eye. As it roared in pain, and flailed wildly, it hit Babydoll, knocking her against the barrier. The impact was no softer than hitting a stone wall. She grimaced and hauled herself to her feet, losing her usual grace and poise. She waited for the beast to move. It charged headfirst into her, attempting to impale her with its tusks. She threw herself aside at the last moment and it collided with the barrier, snapping its tusks and probably concussing what little brain matter resided in its thick skull. It fell to the floor, dazed and Babydoll fired a single shot into its head to kill it.

Jack's pillar was not showing anything. Instead, Babydoll's pillar was showing Blue Jones, the man who was at the centre of the oppression of Babydoll and her friends. It showed him throw her against the mirror and move to kiss her as she stabbed the knife into his shoulder. It showed him shoot Amber and Blondie in cold blood, and it showed him throw the lobotomised Babydoll into a chair, press his lips to hers and putting his hands around her throat, squeezing when she didn't respond. She heard him speak.

"No. That's not right. You're here with me. And all this shit. And you don't go away unless I say so."

She saw his figure emerge from the darkness, with bloodshot eyes.

"What's the matter, Babydoll?" He said with a twisted grin. His voice was deeper than it should be. He held his pistol in one hand. Hunched over as blood seeped from where Babydoll had stabbed him before. He shot at her, hitting her arm. She fired back, missing every shot she took. He moved forwards and punched her. She dropped her sword, but stayed on her feet. Blue put his pistol to his own head with a grin and put her hand to it.

"Do it." He breathed. She shoved the pistol forwards into his nose and dropped it as he stumbled back.

"Clever girl" He laughed and nodded. She reloaded her pistol in this time and fired at him once, missing again. She grabbed for her sword and put it to his throat.

"You can kill me here. But I will always haunt you." He said. She dropped the sword and he began to crumble away, his laughter echoing across the room until it also faded.

Jack's pillar showed words now. It read "Sometimes your most formidable enemy is yourself." Babydoll's pillar showed a picture of her after the lobotomy. She began to cry.

"Is that what I am now?" She asked, tears falling down her face. Jack stayed silent, but nodded. Jack turned to see a silhouette of himself with blood red eyes and barely discernable facial features sat at a table. His revolver was there. He knew what he needed to do. He took his seat and emptied the gun, placed one bullet inside it and spun the chamber. He pulled back the hammer and, his hands shook as he pressed it to his temple and pulled the trigger. It clicked. He placed the gun on the table and watched as his silhouette pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. It dropped the gun and Jack picked it up again. He pulled the trigger and the bullet went through his skull. He looked upwards as a steady stream of blood, flowed out of his skull in slow motion, continuing upwards, not affected by gravity. The silhouette had a stream of shadows coming out of its head, mirroring him. The silhouette stood up, and he followed. They both fell to the floor together, on opposite sides of their table.


	9. Chapter 9

Jack woke up. Babydoll's smiling face was in front of him. He reached out and put his hand on her cheek. She kissed him passionately. He got up and the Wise Man smiled at him. The room was white now. He held Babydoll's hand.

"You faced yourself. That's the most powerful monster anyone can ever fight." the Wise Man said. Jack laughed bitterly.

"But I lost." He said, confused.

"Ah, but you also won." the Wise Man said.

The Wise Man took a pair of silver scissors to Babydoll. She took the threads from her pocket and took the scissors.

"You're sure this is what you want?" the Wise Man said. Babydoll hesitated and looked at Jack. Jack kissed her and smiled.

"Go. I'll join you one day." He said.

He pulled Babydoll into his arms and kissed her one last time. She walked away from Jack slightly, her hand slipping out of his. She took the scissors, closed her eyes and cut the threads.

Two months later, Jack had left the army and bought his childhood home in Vermont back. His parents were dead now and he was the only child of the family, so he decided to buy the family house back. He moved in almost immediately.

Jack woke up early one morning to the sound of his phone ringing. He picked it up from the side of his bed.

"Hello?" He replied groggily

"Mr Jack Tennison?" A rather posh male voice asked.

"Yes. Who is speaking?" Jack asked.

"I am working in the local foster home. We have had your daughter for a long time. You are a hard man to track down Mr Tennison." The man said.

"My… My daughter?" Jack asked incredulously.

"Yes. I suppose the mother never told you. She did say that no one knew of her pregnancy." The man said.

Jack couldn't find any words to say.

"Is the mother available?" The man asked.

"Is this a joke?" Jack asked angrily.

"No. This is no joke." The man said.

"Ok… When can I come in?" Jack asked, sighing.

"Any time today would be best." The man said.

"I'll be there in half an hour." Jack said.

Jack threw his clothes on and drove to the foster home as fast as he could. He parked the car and entered the building. A tall, slender man in a suit with blonde hair and a prominent nose greeted Jack.

"Mr Tennison, I presume?" The man asked.

"Yes." Jack said, shaking the man's hand.

"We spoke on the phone not half an hour ago." He said.

"Yeah. So, I have a daughter?" Jack asked.

"It appears so." The man said.

"And I'm definitely the father?" Jack asked.

"The mother could not give an account of any other person she had had sexual relations with." The man said.

"And what was the mother's name?" Jack asked.

The man opened a drawer and flicked through papers.

"Ariel Smithson." The man read.

Babydoll.

Jack nodded.

"In that case, the child is definitely mine." Jack said.

"Where is the mother now?" The man asked.

"She's in Lennox House. Lobotomised. You won't get anything out of her." Jack said.

The man looked disgusted at Jack's hostility as he said this.

"Sorry." Jack said.

"Perfectly understandable." The man said, his warm, polite smile reappearing.

"What's my daughter's name?" Jack asked.

The man turned several pages in the file.

"Ah. Here it is. Her name is Abigail." The man said.

Jack smiled. Babydoll knew that's what he wanted to call his child if he ever had one.

"How old is she?" Jack asked the man.

"She is 4 years old." The man said.

"Can I see her?" Jack asked.

"Yes. It will take a while for you to be able to take full custody of the child. She has to become comfortable with you first and there is a lot of paperwork involved if that's what you want, but you could just put her up for adoption if you wish." The man said.

"I don't care how many papers it takes, I want my daughter." Jack said.

The man grinned.

"That's what I like to hear." The man said.

Jack followed the man down a corridor into a large room with lots of children running around. The man approached a small girl in the corner of a room, playing quietly with a car. The man pointed at Jack and Abigail flung herself at him.

"Daddy!" She exclaimed.

"Hey, Abby." Jack said, smiling and hugging her back.

"The others said you'd never come, but you did." She grinned.

Jack looked at her; she was just as beautiful as her mother, long light brown hair, framing her round face and deep green eyes.

"Yes, I did. As soon as that man there called me, I came to get you." Jack said.

"He's called Jeremy, he's sometimes mean, but he looks after me." Abby said.

"Where's Mommy?" She asked.

Jack held back tears now.

"She's… Not here anymore." He said.

"Where is she? Is she at home?" Abby asked.

"No. She's gone." Jack choked.

"Is she dead?" She asked.

"No, she's in paradise." Jack said, barely able to get the words out, his throat was so swollen.

"What is that Daddy?" She asked

"It's a wonderful place, full of happiness. It's where you go when you die. Or sometimes you can be like Mommy and still be alive, but not live in the real world." He said.

"Oh. Can we meet her in paradise?" Abby asked, smiling.  
"We can't go to paradise yet. We can see her, but she won't be able to talk to you." He said.

"She left me again." Abby said, beginning to cry.

"Yes, but that wasn't because she didn't love you. Things in her life were… Complicated. Nasty men forced her into paradise, even though she fought to stay here with us. She can never tell you, but she loves you very much." Jack explained, consoling her.

"I want to go home with you, Daddy." Abby said.

"You will soon enough, but you can't just yet." Jack said, beginning to smile again.

"Why not?" Abby asked, her upper lip beginning to tremble.

"There's a lot of papers I need to fill in first, and I have to answer a lot of questions." Jack explained, warmly.

"Ok. When you do that I can come home with you?" Abby asked.

"Yeah. It might take a long time, there's a lot to do first." Jack said.

"Ok." She said, with a small nod.

Jack hugged her.

"I need to go now. I have to start writing the papers and answering those questions. The sooner I do it, the sooner you can come home with me. I'll be back soon." Jack said.

Abby nodded and went back to her toys.

Another few months passed and Jack had only just finished the papers for custody of his child. It had been a nightmare, but Jack knew it was worth every bit of it. Abby moved in with him soon after, although Jack didn't feel so happy: It was Babydoll's birthday and she was no longer there. Not really. Jack decided to take Abby to see her mother.

"Get your things and get in the car, please." Jack instructed her.

Abby nodded, left her toys and did as she was told.

"Where are we going, Daddy?" She asked.

"We're going to see Mommy, it's her birthday today." Jack said.

"Oh. How old is she?"

"22 today." Jack answered.

"She's young." Abby stated.

"Yes, she is. Am I young?" Jack asked, laughing.

Abby wrinkled her nose.

"No." She said, faking disgust.

Jack laughed again.

"You're a smelly old man." She said with a giggle.

"Am I?" Jack asked, sounding surprised.

"Yes." She said, still giggling.

"I'm 25, if you must know." Jack said, acting offended.

They arrived at Lennox House. Abby took one look at the foreboding dark grey stone structure and looked rather satisfied.

"What are you so happy about?" Jack asked.

"I know what this place is." Abby said.

"What is it, then?" Jack asked.

"It's a castle. Mommy's a beautiful princess and we're here to save her." Abby said.

Jack laughed.

"Yes, she is. You're right!" Jack said, playing along with a smile.

Abby's eyes lit up.

"Is there going to be dragons and baddies?" Abby asked, excited.

"There was last time." Jack said, nodding.

Jack opened the door, picked Abby up in his arms and carried her to the room where Babydoll was sat in a chair, silent and unresponsive.

"Hey." Jack said warmly, not expecting a reply.

"This is our daughter. She's just moved in with me." Jack said, placing Abby on the ground gently.

"You can speak to her." Jack told Abby, encouragingly.

"Hello Mommy. Daddy told me everything about what happened. He told me you were a beautiful princess, you look like one." Abby said, slightly unnerved by the dark surroundings. Jack saw her discomfort and picked her up again.

"We just wanted to come by and see you on your birthday. I don't know if some part of you way in there knows what's happening, I hope so, but really, I just hope you're happy. Paradise doesn't seem like such a bad place to be. Certainly better than right here." Jack said. Abby nodded.

"I don't like this place either. It's dark and smelly." Abby said.

Jack laughed.

"Let's go then." He said.

"Say goodbye to Mommy." He added.

Abby waved to Babydoll.

"Bye." She said.

Jack couldn't bring himself to say anything more to Babydoll, but as he carried their daughter out of the room, he swore he saw Babydoll smile…


	10. Chapter 10

Several months later, Jack was still troubled by the thoughts whirling through his mind. He was trying his best to look after Abby, but he was impossibly lonely when she went to nursery. Jack had got a menial office job answering calls and so on for a telecommunications company. He hadn't received any calls for several hours now and he had nothing else to do but torture himself with his thoughts. He sat at his desk chewing on a pen.

"If Babydoll knew about Abby why did she go?" He asked himself silently.

"We could have been a family, it could have all worked out." He thought.

It had been a long and boring day, he had been kept marginally conscious by drinking coffee constantly. He was working overtime to look after Abby. He'd left Abby with a friend for a few nights while he worked for the extra money he needed.

Looking at his watch, he saw that it was about midnight. He sighed; everyone else had gone home, to their families. He saw a figure across the hall. He approached the person and asked what they were doing. He could see nothing of them besides their silhouette due to the lack of light. The silhouette grabbed him and threw him across the room. Jack knocked over desks as he fell and papers went everywhere. He looked up and saw that the silhouette was gone.

He cleaned up the papers and sorted them back in their correct order and filed them, which the person who had filled them in had not bothered to do.

"Lazy bastard." He mumbled. He sat back at his desk and tried to keep his eyes open for the last hours of his shift. He swore he heard Babydoll's voice, singing, as she had always loved to. But her words had a darker edge to them than Jack could ever remember and her voice reflected the same haunting paranoia that was creeping into his mind and taking hold of him. He saw her reflected in the mirror of his office, the glass distorting her beauty and turning it into something disturbing yet attractive to him. The reflection disappeared and her voice became even more distant. Jack looked at his watch, gathered his things and left the building. As he left the building he felt even more alone than before.

Jack walked down the street, so lost in his own mind he was completely unaware of where he was and what his purpose was, moving as autonomously as any machine. He noticed a figure emerge from an alleyway and follow him. Jack regained control of his movement and fought his instinct to move faster. He kept moving, he knew he was supposed to be close, but the street looked unfamiliar now and seemed to go on for miles without any indication of connection to other streets. He was trapped, only able to move forwards. He felt a hand on his shoulder.

Jack threw himself out of the chair at his desk. Jack's boss was stood over him, shaking his head. Jack's boss had a large frame and a bushy moustache. He was friendly enough, but many were intimidated by him.

"Go home, Tennison." He said.

Jack winced, unable to get rid of the feeling that he'd screwed something up.

Jack collapsed onto his bed and fell into a deep sleep riddled with nightmares.

The next morning, he threw some clothes on and went to pick Abby up. As he approached the door of his friend's house, Jack felt uneasy. He opened the door to find his friend, a tall, skinny man with deep brown eyes seeming a little on edge, his eyes darting around hardly able to make contact with Jack.

"What's up, Adam?" Jack asked with a forced smile.

"Uh, nothing." Adam replied.

Jack thought he seemed distant. They used to be great friends, but the man now at the door was nothing like the man he had fought with in Vietnam, the man who had saved his life.

"Not handling the babysitting well, soldier?" Jack asked.

He laughed nervously and Abby came to the door. The tension between them broke. Jack scooped Abby up in his arms and walked away from the house.

As Jack carried Abby down the road, he saw two policemen walking towards them. The men grabbed Jack and tore Abby out of his arms. Jack yelled and tried throwing himself at the policeman holding him down, but it was all in vain. His face was pressed closer to the ground and he felt handcuffs cut into the skin on his wrists, he could just see a woman talking to Abby, she looked like a social worker of some kind. He didn't know what she was saying, but Abby nodded, took the woman's hand and walked away. Jack felt completely hopeless now and stopped trying to fight the policeman holding him down.


	11. The End

A policeman threw Jack into a car, and told the driver to leave. Jack had no idea what was going on, but he had a feeling that he had been set up by Adam. Jack swore under his breath and sat back, resigned to his fate. Jack looked out of the window and realised he recognised this road, he knew where they were taking him now…

The driver stopped outside of Lennox House.

The same policeman that had cuffed him and taken his daughter out of his arms was standing outside. Jack just looked at him, no emotion in his eyes, not even anger. He wasn't worth the effort.

"You have a lot of people worried about you." The policeman said. Jack didn't say anything.

"We had calls from your friends, colleagues and even your boss. They were all worried about your mental state and the care of your daughter. We're here to help you."

Jack still didn't speak. He let the policeman drag him through the large doors of Lennox House. Dr Gorski greeted Jack again. Jack didn't listen to much of what she was saying; nodding passively when he felt it was appropriate. She handed him a piece of paper with various boxes. He put ticks next to the boxes marked "Hallucinations", "Paranoia", "Insomnia", and "Depression".

Several days passed Jack by; he didn't care about any of it. He was then helped to his feet by an orderly; Jack was still handcuffed and couldn't do much for himself. He was dragged into a white room and placed gently on the seat.

The doctor nicknamed the "High Roller" due to his vice for gambling was fed up. He was quitting his job after this one last surgery. Since the procedure on the young woman known only as "Babydoll" to him, he still had sleepless nights. He couldn't continue to do this to himself. He prepared his equipment and entered the white room. The patient was sat on the chair, already looking vacant. The doctor picked up the pick and hammer, lined up the angle and struck.

Jack would have thought that he felt vacant and subdued, if he could have felt such emotion. He was discharged a few weeks later; he went home to find his daughter at the house with the social worker who had walked away with her. Abby threw herself into his arms.

"I missed you, Daddy." She said.

"I missed you too." Jack said, smiling at her.

"You can't return to being her full time carer after a procedure such as the one you have just been through, but she will visit you regularly. I will have to be present at all of these visits, of course. I must ensure you don't pose a threat to her safety." The social worker said. Jack resisted the urge to punch this woman. He just nodded.

Eleven years later, Abby had grown into almost a mirror image of her mother, with Jack's lighter brown hair and the cheeky twinkle in the ocean of her deep green eyes her father once had. Abby was sat at her desk writing in her diary. Her words read:

"Saw dad again today. I feel really sorry for him, he didn't want this to happen to him. He really tried to take care of me, even after the lobotomy. Sometimes I feel like I hate him for leaving me, but I know it isn't fair. He fought to try and stay with me. Of course, the jury didn't trust an ex-soldier who had been sent to an insane asylum and lobotomised there. It's such a load of bullshit. He was as good a father as he could possibly be to me. I think it was depression that got to him afterwards. Lennox House took him back for some additional tests, and somewhere down the line, he became as vacant as mom. It was strange to see them. Mom always looked happy. Dad always said she was in Paradise. But somehow I think a part of Dad's still in there, he always looks slightly sad when I visit them, as if he wishes he could be back in the real world for me. It's funny, seeing mom and dad together in that horrible room. Their vacant smiles almost match, and they sit side by side, holding hands. I know that they were meant to be together."


End file.
